September 30, 2009
Among the new friends I've made in Korea is my good buddy, Jack. Jack is a Down's syndrome child whose older brother ia a sixth grader at my school. His mother appeared at the school recently and begged that the boy be allowed to attend school some so he could be with other children. She said his older brother would be responsible for him or she would come sit in school to be sure he wasn't any trouble. At first, the PTB's ( powers that be) said no because our school is hardly equipped to deal with a special needs child. In fact, however, in one way or another the entire student body of my school is one big special needs group.
Long story short: I put on my idiot boob hat (again!) as I wandered upon the situation and told the PTB's the boy could hang out with my classes, maybe learn some English and enjoy being with other kids. The sixth graders have sort of adopted him as a mascot and his brother takes care of bathroom needs and feeds him lunch. I can't competently get my tongue around some Korean names, so I decided to call him Jack and he seems to like it. He's a kind boy, very friendly and is able to function at a good level. Jack represents a stigma for his family in Korean society which appears to be quick to cover up its embarrassments. I take it his family can't or won't institutionalize him (if you can even do that in Korea) and his mother (as is the case with all good mothers) is willing to stick her neck out and try to do something to help him even if society in general thinks my buddy, Jack, should be out of sight and mind.
I'll report anything noteworthy about Jack, but I already have one fun story to tell on him. The other night, I saw the movie "Top Gun" on Korean TV dubbed in Korean. (Tom Cruise could do a better job of synchronizing his lips with the Korean voiceover.) Remember the pilots saying "Rock 'n roll" when flying a mission? Well, I used the expression with Jack as in "Come on Jack...let's rock 'n roll!" and he likes it so much that he says it to everyone he sees. I think the principal is thoroughly confused, but his mentors in the sixth grade get it and humor him with it.
Please pray for Jack and throw in a request that I be allowed to help him just a little and benefit from his friendship.
Rockin' and Rollin'.
(Special Needs) Teacher Bill
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Sunday, September 13, 2009
The Second Coming of Noah Webster
Greetings Fellow Lexicographers:
I have to admit it--I'm a lexicographic (word) freak. While in college, I spent many late nights in the campus library thumbing randomly through the O.E.D. (Oxford English Dictionary, the official bible of our language) in a fascinating quest to learn the etymology (history, source, derivation) of the more than 60,000 English words we have available for communication. If you're typical of most Americans you are probably functional with, at most, 1200-1500 words which is kind of pathetic if you think about it. Along my scholastic journey, I invested considerable effort studying the work of British lexicographer Charles K. Ogden, the inventor/developer of Ogden's Basic English. In a nutshell, Ogden's Basic is a set of 850 words that can be used along with articles, prepositions and pronouns and the verbs "to have" and "to be" to communicate about 90% of everything you need to say in English. Recalling this trip I made into the dark recesses of academia's closet resulted in a...
B R A I N S T O R M!!! Is that a light bulb flashing over my head???
and I said to myself: "Self, why not create a Korean-English and reverse dictionary of Ogden's 850 and use it to speed up the process of learning English for your students?"
So......with the translational help of my teacher friend Min-hi, I'm playing at being the Noah Webster of Korea and we will publish a rough first version of the first edition of Teacher Bill's "Words for the Wise" ( a little play on words--get it?) Dictionary hopefully next month. I have some other content ideas, but the basic dictionary comes first. I'm playing with the idea of a global enterprise built around trashing the way English is taught as a foreign language and introducing something simple, but revolutionary and easy to use and targeted to younger learners. I have to sign off now and finish up the copyright application I'm preparing. I also need to finish this week's lesson outlines and read up on how to use the light pen that came with my new electrified English classroom.
So much to do and so little time!
Never at a loss for words,
Bill
I have to admit it--I'm a lexicographic (word) freak. While in college, I spent many late nights in the campus library thumbing randomly through the O.E.D. (Oxford English Dictionary, the official bible of our language) in a fascinating quest to learn the etymology (history, source, derivation) of the more than 60,000 English words we have available for communication. If you're typical of most Americans you are probably functional with, at most, 1200-1500 words which is kind of pathetic if you think about it. Along my scholastic journey, I invested considerable effort studying the work of British lexicographer Charles K. Ogden, the inventor/developer of Ogden's Basic English. In a nutshell, Ogden's Basic is a set of 850 words that can be used along with articles, prepositions and pronouns and the verbs "to have" and "to be" to communicate about 90% of everything you need to say in English. Recalling this trip I made into the dark recesses of academia's closet resulted in a...
B R A I N S T O R M!!! Is that a light bulb flashing over my head???
and I said to myself: "Self, why not create a Korean-English and reverse dictionary of Ogden's 850 and use it to speed up the process of learning English for your students?"
So......with the translational help of my teacher friend Min-hi, I'm playing at being the Noah Webster of Korea and we will publish a rough first version of the first edition of Teacher Bill's "Words for the Wise" ( a little play on words--get it?) Dictionary hopefully next month. I have some other content ideas, but the basic dictionary comes first. I'm playing with the idea of a global enterprise built around trashing the way English is taught as a foreign language and introducing something simple, but revolutionary and easy to use and targeted to younger learners. I have to sign off now and finish up the copyright application I'm preparing. I also need to finish this week's lesson outlines and read up on how to use the light pen that came with my new electrified English classroom.
So much to do and so little time!
Never at a loss for words,
Bill
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Hopscotch B'gosh!
Greetings Fellow Playground Rats:
Are there any true Trekkies out there? You know what a Trekkie is...... That's right: a Trekkie is someone of my approximate vintage who has watched so many original and re-run episodes of Star Trek that he knows the plot synopses and memorable dialogue from every episode of the series from 1968 through 1973. A readily identifiable trait of a real Trekkie is his increasingly bizarre inability to separate fantasy from reality. He's lost forever in his own private time warp in which the Klingons or Romulans are continually lurking about hoping to blast him with a ray gun that will neutralize his brain. So Trekkies, do we all remember "The Prime Directive" the United Federation of Planets gives to all of us Starship captains? That's right! General Order #1: You shall not interfere with the social or technological development of any alien civilization you encounter.
OOPS!! (Sorry, my bad....again--but you knew it had to be coming.)
My third graders have a Learning English workbook I ordered for them and one of the study units is about playground activities. My students were especially intrigued with American playground games and had a particular fascination with the idea of hopscotch. (Koreans, apparently, knew nothing at all about hopscotch. Suffice to say, THEY DO NOW!) So, what does the well-meaning idiot boob teacher from America do? You guessed it. He finds a box of chalk, draws a hopscotch game on the sidewalk in back of the school (which happens to be visible from the teachers' workroom, so you know where this story is headed), assigns vocabulary words they have to learn to each number and proceeds to introduce Koreans to yet another new game (albeit in a slightly altered form). The kids are having a blast hopping and counting and saying their vocabulary words in an orderly manner when several teachers climb out the window (don't worry...it's first floor) and get in line with the kids to have their first go at hopscotch. (How these people ever grew up is beyond me). However, the story gets even better (if not insanely improbable).
Over the next few days, the school was completely stripped of its chalk supply and there's no doubt where it went or who is responsible. Hopscotch game boards have appeared on sidewalks, parking lots and paved surfaces in Duckdo-Ri and Yangju and may be spreading toward the border with North Korea and south toward Seoul. All of this "sidewalk art" is anathema to the Korean sense of order, dignity and harmony and the street-sweepers union is probably after the head of the instigator. What was that about The Prime Directive and not interfering with the development of alien civilizations? Will I ever learn? My days as a starship captain could be numbered. I'll probably get busted down to sergeant or worse. If I lie low, the Principal said he would cover for me. Hopscotch is still allowed at Hyochon School, but only behind the building and out of sight....and the chalk supply is now locked up in the school office and issued only by the individual stick.
Don't y'all wish you had my life?
Keep on hoppin',
Sergeant (on the way to Private),
Bill
Are there any true Trekkies out there? You know what a Trekkie is...... That's right: a Trekkie is someone of my approximate vintage who has watched so many original and re-run episodes of Star Trek that he knows the plot synopses and memorable dialogue from every episode of the series from 1968 through 1973. A readily identifiable trait of a real Trekkie is his increasingly bizarre inability to separate fantasy from reality. He's lost forever in his own private time warp in which the Klingons or Romulans are continually lurking about hoping to blast him with a ray gun that will neutralize his brain. So Trekkies, do we all remember "The Prime Directive" the United Federation of Planets gives to all of us Starship captains? That's right! General Order #1: You shall not interfere with the social or technological development of any alien civilization you encounter.
OOPS!! (Sorry, my bad....again--but you knew it had to be coming.)
My third graders have a Learning English workbook I ordered for them and one of the study units is about playground activities. My students were especially intrigued with American playground games and had a particular fascination with the idea of hopscotch. (Koreans, apparently, knew nothing at all about hopscotch. Suffice to say, THEY DO NOW!) So, what does the well-meaning idiot boob teacher from America do? You guessed it. He finds a box of chalk, draws a hopscotch game on the sidewalk in back of the school (which happens to be visible from the teachers' workroom, so you know where this story is headed), assigns vocabulary words they have to learn to each number and proceeds to introduce Koreans to yet another new game (albeit in a slightly altered form). The kids are having a blast hopping and counting and saying their vocabulary words in an orderly manner when several teachers climb out the window (don't worry...it's first floor) and get in line with the kids to have their first go at hopscotch. (How these people ever grew up is beyond me). However, the story gets even better (if not insanely improbable).
Over the next few days, the school was completely stripped of its chalk supply and there's no doubt where it went or who is responsible. Hopscotch game boards have appeared on sidewalks, parking lots and paved surfaces in Duckdo-Ri and Yangju and may be spreading toward the border with North Korea and south toward Seoul. All of this "sidewalk art" is anathema to the Korean sense of order, dignity and harmony and the street-sweepers union is probably after the head of the instigator. What was that about The Prime Directive and not interfering with the development of alien civilizations? Will I ever learn? My days as a starship captain could be numbered. I'll probably get busted down to sergeant or worse. If I lie low, the Principal said he would cover for me. Hopscotch is still allowed at Hyochon School, but only behind the building and out of sight....and the chalk supply is now locked up in the school office and issued only by the individual stick.
Don't y'all wish you had my life?
Keep on hoppin',
Sergeant (on the way to Private),
Bill
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)